"Bought Sick Notes": Online Certificates Without Any Contact With a Doctor Justify Summary Dismissal (Higher Labour Court of Hamm)

One click, one fee, one PDF – and the sick note is ready? Employees who rely on dubious online portals that issue certificates of incapacity for work (Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung, AU) via a questionnaire without any contact with a doctor are on thin legal ice. The Higher Labour Court (Landesarbeitsgericht, LAG) of Hamm has handed down a landmark judgment on this (case no. 14 SLa 145/25): submitting such a "certificate of convenience" justifies summary dismissal.

The reason for this strict line is the massively destroyed relationship of trust. A certificate that merely simulates a medical examination has no evidential value and is regarded by the case law as a serious breach of trust. In such cases, a prior written warning is generally dispensable, since the breach of duty shakes the employment relationship to its foundations. Once the employer has undermined the evidential value of a sick note – for example by proving that the doctor is located abroad or that no examination took place – the burden of proof shifts. The employee must then set out and prove in detail what specific health impairments existed. In the case of pure online purchases this hardly ever succeeds after the event.

In addition to loss of employment, criminal consequences for fraud and claims for repayment of continued remuneration already paid (Entgeltfortzahlung) also loom. Companies are therefore well advised to look closely at "visually suspicious" certificates and, in case of doubt, to hold a hearing of the employee.

Even though the decision is not yet final owing to a complaint against the denial of leave to appeal, the following applies: consistently check doubtful certificates for their origin and for actual contact with a doctor. Through a targeted compliance strategy and by withholding unjustified continued remuneration, you protect not only your company from financial loss but also preserve fairness towards colleagues who are genuinely ill.